PLUS: CBS News White correspondent Olivia Rinaldi on Trump's 'Strait talk' & Tucker says the obvious (for once)

Wednesday night, WXIA-TV (11 Alive) will livestream online a Democratic gubernatorial debate (live on WATL-TV as well) with just three of the six candidates running, culling the field to three based on a six-week-old poll while ignoring a two-week old poll that shows it's at minimum a four-person race. I'm curious how that best serves the electorate, frankly.

Meanwhile, former Biden administration heavyweights (VP Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg) are now openly toying with 2028 presidential runs, and I'm okay with that; I'd just like Democrats to pivot from just focusing on Trump and undoing his damage and start pitching themselves and the party as more aspirational - giving Americans a future to hearken to.

CBS News' White House correspondent Olivia Rinaldi hopped on a call early Monday morning to discuss the corner President Trump has painted himself into and the logistics and shortcomings in a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a bullying tactic in the immediate aftermath of a mere 21 hours of negotiating yielding nothing substantive. Then there's the "Dr. Jesus" posting to get into.

Politics certainly puts you in camps with folks you don't often think you'll be in, but Rep. Esther Panitch and I are both on the same page in the gubernatorial primary. That said, she and I have broad disagreement on the affinity for US/Israel "unquestioned" support and her aversion for Democratic Socialists in the party at all. She likens them to the left's version of "MAGA," while not discussing the issues that separate her from her opponent in the throes of a party primary.

That and more in Monday's Ron Show.